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Ask HN: Why am I suddenly unemployable?

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Re: Ask HN: Why am I suddenly unemployable?

#11

Post by punkbit »

Maybe add your Github profile. I'm based in London and noticed the same a few years ago when I was looking, and decided to stop applying to UK companies, I find it pretentious and a big waste of time; for me, it was mostly the 4 or 5 interview stages that seemed ridiculous, also take-home tests that took 2 to 3 days, etc. Processes that took weeks of hard work. I can imagine it just got worse now. I've interviewed some people in the last 12 months, and seen a lot of CVs. When investigating, I found a lot of people lying. It seems that LinkedIn/twitter/TikTok are important for recruiters. I don't use it myself, but I've seen people asking for LinkedIn and Twitter for some reason.

Good luck with everything, it's not your skills!

Re: Ask HN: Why am I suddenly unemployable?

#13

Post by rogual »

infinitedata wrote: post #6

You have an impressing background! I think folks reading this are seeing that you are too technical and lack of business acumen (while maybe not true). For the work that you have done in each company they may be interested in the results of you creating these not that you created those. Did you ever find out what was the impact of your software development on the actual business? Make sure to include numbers, people…

Thanks for the reply!

I'm definitely guilty of thinking like a dev. Built what the PM wanted, they liked it, I did good, right? D'oh. I guess I should have been keeping notes of those business figures all this time. I'll definitely do that when I find a job again. Of course, even if sales improved while I was there, I'd feel a bit silly claiming it was because of me, but maybe I should anyway. Thank you!

About summarizing those skills, you're probably right. I did it this way because I had a recruiter say it needed to be clear what tech was used in which job, but I guess people are always going to have different expectations. I'll try it the other way for a bit. Cheers!

Re: Ask HN: Why am I suddenly unemployable?

#14

Post by rogual »

oumua_don17 wrote: post #9

My 2 cents: You have awesome 3D Graphics/Games development experience. The best way to leverage that would be to market yourself as a 3D Graphics SW Developer/3D Game developer (you may need to deep dive a bit into 3D Graphics principles, OpenGL). Almost every semi company (Arm, QC, BC, Intel etc) and even FAANG's have openings for 3D Graphics SW engineers and you are actually well qualified for those as background i…

Hey, this feels like a valuable insight. Thank you.

The CV would be a lot shorter with only the 3D graphics stuff, but maybe that's not a problem? I'll try creating a separate graphics developer CV and see what happens.

I've heard the horror stories about games industry conditions so hadn't really pushed in that direction but will definitely start looking for non-gaming 3D jobs.

Thanks again, much appreciated.

Re: Ask HN: Why am I suddenly unemployable?

#16

Post by wslh »

rogual wrote: post #10
wslh wrote: post #2

I am looking at your CV and have some feedback: - You missed your work goals objective paragraph! Why are you looking to a job? What is your interest? LinkedIn and Internet in general are full of examples. Why do I need to hire you beyond your specific skills? How are you as a human? as a team player? How do you contribute to organizations beyond your formal work? - I will not separate between full time work and inde…

Thanks very much for taking a look! I appreciate the suggestion of adding more "soft" human bits about me. As a dev my natural reaction to team-player stuff on CVs is "anyone can say they're a team player, who cares?" but maybe recruiters see it differently. I've gone back and forth on separating the volunteer work. Having it all in one column I felt it looked like I was trying to pad out "real" paid experience with…

No problem. One more thing:labot "anyone can say..." you should be and sound genuine, use your own voice, not a copy and paste of the typical bully promoting its work working in teams.

Re: Ask HN: Why am I suddenly unemployable?

#17

Post by rogual »

farseer wrote: post #15

1. List your skills separately as well in a small box somewhere. I shouldn't have to read your entire CV to find out. 2. You didn't mention your educational background. Please list if possible.

1. Thanks! Will do.

2. University of life. Never been much of an issue, but maybe that's changing?

Re: Ask HN: Why am I suddenly unemployable?

#18

Post by DarrenDev »

It's possible the University of Bedfordshire role at the top makes it look like you're a student - to a lazy recruiter who doesn't read. The first bullet point "as part of a research project" again suggests you might be back in college - again to a recruiter who doesn't read.

I may be wrong - just a suggestion.

Re: Ask HN: Why am I suddenly unemployable?

#19

Post by rogual »

punkbit wrote: post #11

Maybe add your Github profile. I'm based in London and noticed the same a few years ago when I was looking, and decided to stop applying to UK companies, I find it pretentious and a big waste of time; for me, it was mostly the 4 or 5 interview stages that seemed ridiculous, also take-home tests that took 2 to 3 days, etc. Processes that took weeks of hard work. I can imagine it just got worse now. I've interviewed so…

Thank you! Github is at the top-right but could be more prominent.

How did you manage to find non-UK companies that will hire UK people? I find most remote US roles say "remote (US only)", and similar for other countries.

Re: Ask HN: Why am I suddenly unemployable?

#20

Post by rogual »

DarrenDev wrote: post #18

It's possible the University of Bedfordshire role at the top makes it look like you're a student - to a lazy recruiter who doesn't read. The first bullet point "as part of a research project" again suggests you might be back in college - again to a recruiter who doesn't read. I may be wrong - just a suggestion.

Yeah that's a good shout, thank you! I hadn't considered that.
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